


so i don't lose you

by lovelilkitty



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Gay, M/M, Modern, Star Wars - Freeform, They Are My Everything, i just love byclair, lucas sinclair non binary, macey this is 4 u, micah wheeler mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23133082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelilkitty/pseuds/lovelilkitty
Summary: in which will and lucas go to a movie, and hand-holding and confessions occur, amongst other shenanigans.
Relationships: Will Byers/Lucas Sinclair
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	so i don't lose you

**Author's Note:**

> HI im clio !! @ronanlqnch on twt!! i hope u like this fic, bc im rlly rlly proud of this one! i have been having some writers block so i havent continued my other byclair fic, but i think im gonna write a couple more one-shots and then update!!

There was quite a big crowd outside of the theater. That was the first thing Lucas noticed. The second was that Will looked rather anxious. He wasn’t a fan of crowds, Lucas recalled. Biting their lip, Lucas reached out, grabbing Will’s hand.

Will looked up at them, lips parting with surprise. 

Lucas just grinned, trying to ignore what felt like a million butterflies in their stomach. _Will was just a friend._ “So I don’t lose you.”

Really, Lucas had no concern about losing Will. When Will was near them, they were very aware of his presence. They didn’t think it was possible for their brain to not be fine-tuned to Will’s whereabouts, to his nearness. 

But Will had once mentioned how sometimes, when he was anxious, having something physically grounding helped. Lucas hoped their hand was enough.

Eventually, the crowd morphed into a rough line. The movie wasn’t til midnight, and it was only seven, so Lucas and Will had brought sleeping bags, preparing themselves for a long night. 

Of course, they could have bought tickets online, avoiding the wait. Lucas had looked into it, in fact.

But online, you couldn’t pick seats. And Lucas and Will had been waiting their entire lifetimes for this; a chance to see Star Wars in theaters. 

Star Wars was maybe the most staple piece of their friendship. It was what had brought them together, certainly. 

In third grade, Lucas didn’t have friends. 

Then, on Halloween, they showed up dressed as a Jawa. no one knew what it was, and Lucas felt dumb and alone. Everyone else was a princess, or an astronaut, or something mundane. And of course, they just _had_ to have picked a Star Wars character. And not just any Star Wars character- an obscure, faceless one. Before, not having friends hadn’t bothered Lucas, not really. But then? They’d never felt more alone. 

At recess, they did a costume parade around the school. Lucas felt isolated in a field of mummies and fairies. Then, they felt someone tap on their shoulder. 

Dressed in a homemade Luke Skywalker costume, Will Byers was grinning from ear-to-ear. “You’re a Jawa, right?”

Lucas beamed, nodding their head excitedly. 

“Cool! Uh, me and my friends are also Star Wars characters, and we were wondering if you maybe wanted to come walk with us? Jedis have to stick together, after all. Well, not jedi’s, you’re not dressed as a Jedi and Dustin went as Chewbacca, so uh-” He trailed off, looking a little nervous.

Lucas didn’t respond right away. No one had ever done this; gone out of their way to include them, much less befriend them. 

Their shocked silence appeared to fluster Will, who quickly shot out, “Or not! It’s totally fine, you don’t have to, you probably have a ton of friends over here, I just-”

“No!” Lucas interrupted, eyes widening. “No, I would love to! I uh, don’t really have any friends at all, actually.”

Will had beamed at him, taking his hand to drag him over to his friends. “Well now you do.”

Lucas had not forgotten a single detail about that day. Glancing over at Will, they allowed themself to be dragged once more- except this time, towards their spot in line, and this time, there would only be two of them. It was winter break, and Micah and Dustin were both travelling. Neither Max nor El had any interest in going to see a midnight movie, which left just Lucas and Will. 

When they had found spots in line, they laid out one unzipped sleeping bag on the ground- like a picnic blanket, so their jeans didn’t get dirty, and shared the other, huddling together in a close proximity that made Lucas both very nervous, and very excited. The butterflies in their stomach were fluttering more than ever before.

Will had dropped Lucas’s hand to help set up, and while their hand missed the warmth of Will’s, Lucas couldn’t think of another excuse to grab Will’s hand, so they supposed they would have to go without a hand to hold. 

Except then, they felt Will’s hand slide into their own once more. Glancing over at Will, their eyes widened, surprised. 

Will just smiled, knocking shoulders. “So I don’t lose you,” he repeated, and _oh_ , Lucas was in over his head. Briefly, they wondered if this was what love was, before shaking the thought away. Their crush on Will would remain just that- a crush, and one that they had to get over, fast. Because Will was their _friend_. They couldn’t lose the first crush they’d ever had because of some dumb crush. 

They turned to Will, grinning gently. “Okay, so we have what, five hours to kill? What’s the plan?”

Will paused, considering for a minute, then smiled. “I spy?” 

Lucas nodded, glancing around. “Okay… I spy,” they paused considering once more, before looking back and Will. “Something yellow.”

Will smiled, eyes crinkling in a way Lucas wished they found just slightly less adorable. “My favorite!”

Softly, Lucas mumbled, “I know.”

Will’s smile widened, and his eyes darted around, mimicking the directions that Lucas’s eyes had followed less than a minute before. “The line in the middle of the road!”

Lucas shook his head, smirking.

Will looked disappointed for a minute, before bouncing back up joyfully. “The traffic light!”

“It was green when I was picking.” Lucas said, amused.

“That house across the street?”

Another no.

Will guessed and guessed, until finally, defeated, he looked at Lucas. “Okay then what?”

Still smiling, Lucas directed Will’s gaze to the mountains in the distance, where the sun was peacefully setting, an array of pinks, yellows, oranges, blues, and purples filling the sky. 

“That.”

For a moment, they sat in awe, two friends admiring the hues of the night sky, before eventually, they turned back to each other, continuing the game.

They played for maybe another hour, before it grew too dark for the distinct colors to be clear. Then they talked, long talks, about everything and nothing. They talked about college, about the summer, about what Micah was doing in New York, and what Dustin was doing in Florida. They talked about how long it would take for Micah and El to get together, and they talked about when they would get Max into Star Wars (El was a lost cause, but everyone had still held out hope for Max). They talked about how Will’s mom was thinking of moving to New York to be closer to Jonathan, and how Will was pretty sure he had convinced her to hold out till after Will moved out, since he had his sights set on several arts colleges in New York anyway. They talked about how Lucas wasn’t quite sure what they wanted to do yet, or if they even wanted to go to college, but they knew they wanted to feel alive. They talked about taking a gap year together and exploring the world, although neither were quite sure if it was a possibility or just another futile childhood dream. 

They talked for hours and hours; it seemed like an exaggeration, but it was true. By the time they had run out of things to talk about (although really, neither of them suspected they had, but there were things they couldn’t say, not here, not to each other, not now), there was half an hour until the line would be allowed inside. 

Will glanced over at Lucas; for some reason, he looked- Lucas couldn’t place it. It bordered on nervousness, but that didn’t make sense, why would he be nervous? Excitement, probably. After all, for the first time, they were seeing Star Wars in theaters.

“Do you wanna,” here, Will hesitated, biting his lip. Lucas blinked, wondering if he was imagining Will’s odd behavior. “Do you wanna play two truths and a lie?” 

Lucas was definitely imagining it; why would Will be nervous about a silly game? “Sure!”

“Okay I’ll go first,” Will bit his lip again, and yeah, he was definitely nervous. But _why_?

“Okay, my favorite band is the Clash, my favorite color is green, and I like you.”

Lucas froze, turning to Will, and very, very slowly, not trusting their own ears, murmured, “Your favorite color is yellow.”

Will shook his head, offering Lucas a small, hopeful smile. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”

“So then-”

Will nodded, meeting Lucas’s eyes. “I like you Lucas. And not like in a, ‘you’re a good friend and I think you’re neat’ kind of way. In a, ‘when you smile at me I feel like I’m on top of the world, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful than your eyes, and I don’t know how but you are always there for me and I can’t imagine my life without you in it, and when you hold my hand I can’t think about anything else, and I really, really want to kiss you.”

Lucas’s mouth was open. They felt as though their heart had stopped.

“And I know you don’t feel the same way, but I thought you should know and I-”

“What do you mean?” Lucas’s voice was hoarse and wobbly.

“I mean- well I thought I owed you the truth and I-”

“No. Not what do you mean you thought i should know. _What do you mean you ‘know I don’t like you back._ ’”

“I-” Will’s eyes widened, and he fumbled on his words, shocked. “I mean why would you?”

Lucas laughed, eyes tearing up slightly. “Because you, Will Byers, are the most beautiful, incredible, _perfect_ boy I have _ever_ met. I think I have liked you since the day I met you. I like that you’re my best friend, I like that I have _never_ felt safer or more at home than when I am with you. I like every single thing about you, Will.”

When they kissed, they were both crying, just a little. Not tears of sadness, but tears of relief. Finally, their feelings were no longer in the dark. The butterflies in Lucas’s stomach were no longer gone, but they were welcome now, embraced. 

They had dropped hands to kiss, and now, as they pulled away, foreheads still pressed together, Lucas let themself find Will’s hands once more. 

“So I don’t lose you,” he breathed against Will’s lips.


End file.
